Social Media Strategy: How to Create a Plan that Works
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Social media has become a critical part of brands’ marketing strategies. With 72% of U.S. adults actively using some form of social media, it’s become a powerful way for brands to engage and build relationships with their customers. But with new platforms and trends popping up seemingly daily, it can quickly become overwhelming.
How do you choose which platforms to use?
How do you know if it’s working?
That’s where your social media strategy comes in.
What is a social media strategy?
A social media strategy is your roadmap for social media marketing. It outlines how you plan to use social media to achieve your business goals, including:
how you’ll create and publish content
what type of content you’ll produce
which platforms you’ll use
how success will be measured
How to create a social media strategy that works
As with most marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach with social media. Every brand is unique, as is every social platform. So, for a social media strategy to be effective, it needs to be tailored to your business.
That may seem daunting, but it’s not as difficult as you may think. Here are 5 tips to get you started:
1) Define your goals
You can’t know if something’s working if you don’t know what it’s trying to do. Clearly identify what you’re trying to achieve through social media marketing. Are you looking to drive traffic to your website? Increase brand awareness? Generate leads? How you move forward hinges on understanding your goals and how success will be measured.
2) Identify your audience
Who are you trying to reach with your social media strategy? Not only do different types of people use different platforms, they engage with content differently, too. For example, young adults may be more comfortable making purchases directly through social channels, while older generations may prefer more marketing-driven tactics (like new product announcements, promotions, etc.).
Understanding your audience and their social media preferences will help you prioritize how, where, and what type of content you use to engage with them.
3) Create your content plan
This, as they say, is where the rubber meets the road. Once you understand your goals and your audience, it’s time to create a content plan. Here, lay out which social platforms you plan to use, and how you plan to use them. What type of social content will you create? Will you make tutorial videos for TikTok and YouTube? Or post weekly on LinkedIn?
While some brands choose to create static posts and share them across multiple platforms, tailoring your content to each site will drive higher engagement. Remember, each site is different, and consumers today expect brands to understand the nuance of each channel if they’re going to engage.
4) Monitor yor performance
Once you’ve started sharing content, it’s important to keep an eye on your metrics to track how well your social media strategy is working. You should have identified your key performance indicators (KPIs) when setting your goals. They could include:
Engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments)
Reach (how many people are seeing your content)
Site traffic (how many people are clicking from your social posts to your website)
5) Adjust as-needed
If you’re not seeing the results you want, it’s time to mix things up. Thankfully, social media is much more agile than other marketing channels. Don’t be afraid to try different types of content, or make other adjustments to your social media strategy until you find what works best for your brand.
Need help? Phone a friend
A good social media strategy can help ensure you’re getting the most out of your social channels. Still feeling overwhelmed? There’s no need to go it alone.
Drop us a note and tell us about your project, and we’ll see how we can help.
